Project funded under FP7
Contract number: 217190
Programme: Cooperation
Instrument: CSA (Support)
Description of work
EULAKS is structured in six work packages (WP) plus one WP dedicated to the management of the project:
WP1 (Review, Analysis, Policy Recommendation) is designed to provide strategic policy-oriented analysis on the role of the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) in the bi-regional S&T co-operation between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean. This WP is divided in three tasks of analysis and review:
- A questionnaire-based review of trends and patterns of SSH co-operation between the EU and LAC to identify thematic fields of priority and mutual interest
- A qualitative analysis of the role of SSH research in the design and transformation of science, technology and innovation (STI) policy agendas in selected Latin American countries
- A questionnaire-based analysis of the structure of scientific communities and collaborative EU-LAC research networks
The analytical tasks will provide the basis for the formulation of policy recommendations for future policies to strengthen co-operation in the SSH between the European Union and the countries of Latin America and the
WP2 (Assessing and Building Research Capacities for the Knowledge Society) is designed to examine existing research capacities to gauge the dynamics of the emerging Knowledge Society in the EU and LAC. The WP is divided in two tasks, which have three primary objectives:
- To provide a comparative EU-LAC assessment of available indicators for monitoring the dynamics of the Knowledge Society
- To promote co-operation in foresight research through the articulation of communities of experienced foresight practitioners and researchers in both regions
- To support the development of foresight research capacities through knowledge transfer and exchange
The milestone of WP2 is a policy workshop on EU-LAC co-operation in foresight, aimed at fostering the exchange on foresight knowledge and tools. The workshop, which will help to disseminate best practice on the building of sustainable foresight capacities through EU-LAC co-operation, will be followed by support activities that will consolidate the integration of EU-LAC foresight research networks and better structure the foresight knowledge base in both regions.
WP3 (Strategic Studies of Digital Ecosystems Research in the EU and LAC) is oriented towards partnership building, knowledge transfer and sharing of experiences in the field of Digital Ecosystems research. Digital Ecosystems are emerging as a novel approach, built around an inter-disciplinary research community using a diversity of concepts from biology, physics, business and social science research, to understand and explain how ICTs (particularly self-evolving digital software) enable processes of networking and knowledge creation in different knowledge environments. The evolving Digital Ecosystems research agenda will undoubteldly become a central approach for furthering our multi-discipinary understanding of the socio-technical transformations in the constitution of the future Information and Knowledge Society. Although research on Digital Ecosystems is still at the infant stage, a cluster of projects has been part-financed by the European Union in order to develop both the theory and application of Digital Ecosystems. The WP benefits from the WP leader's role as coordinator of the OPAALS Network of Excellence.
The activities that are carried out in this WP are based on a strong interaction between European and Latin American partners. In order to achieve the set goal of this WP, which is to disseminate the Digital Ecosystems concept to selected LAC countries, various implementation schemes are foreseen:
- Joint brainstorming sessions and workshops with local stakeholders (IT developers, representatives of regional authorities, SMEs) in selected Latin American countries
- A limited number of case studies on the applicability of the Digital Ecosystems research paradigm in the Latin American context
WP4 (Multi-stakeholder Learning Network for Knowledge Exchange) will establish a multi-stakeholder learning network for knowledge exchange on different topics related to the challenges and dynamics of the emerging Knowledge Society. For this purpose, several communication channels to orchestrate the multi-stakeholder network are implemented:
- Establishment of a learning community based on a virtual community platform
WP5 (Joint Summer School for Young Social Scientists in the European Union and Latin American and Caribbean Countries) will create a face-to-face linkage between young SSH researchers from the EU and LAC through the organisation of a Joint Summer School. The Summer School will be held over two weeks in
WP6 (Dissemination) is designed to bring attention to the objectives of EULAKS and to communicate the intermediary and final results of the project to academic, governmental, industrial and civil society audiences in countries of the European Union and in Latin America and the Caribbean.
